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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
THE UNITED FAMILY AWAITS THE VISIT OF HALLEWYN
The first feature by Argentina’s Miguel Bejo, a figure who deserves to be ranked with cinematic provocateurs like Jodorowsky and Arrabal
HAUNTED SAMURAI
This 1970 Nikkatsu release is allegedly “the most gory ninja film of its era”
THE GARDENER
1970s horticultural horror that features the legendary male sex symbol Joe Dallesandro in his first non-Andy Warhol affiliated film
BEETLEJUICE 1988
Tim Burton’s second feature was this 1988 triumph, his first collaboration with novelist Michael McDowell
SLEEPY HOLLOW
You won’t find much of Washington Irving’s 1820 tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in this 1999 film, but you will find plenty of Tim Burton
THE DAY THE GODS DIED
A third party companion-piece to CHARIOTS OF THE GODS, and a dispatch from an era in which allegedly true revelations of incredible events were popular
BRAINSTORM
A YA novel that has a number of agreeable elements, but is done in by a simplistic treatment.
THE SPECIALIST
Here we have the fictional equivalent of those Nazi-sploitation movies prevalent in the 1970s
THE LIONESS
A threefer: a historical drama, a bodice ripper and a supernatural thriller
TYLER’S THIRD ACT
A corrosive and (mostly) dead-on satire of the entertainment world by a man who knows it all too well
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY
One of several autobiographical volumes written by the Chilean-born, Paris-based writer/filmmaker/spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorowsky
SHOCK VALUE
The subtitle says it all: “How A Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror”
SCREEN VIOLENCE
Violence in cinema was a hot issue back in 1996, as evinced in this British anthology of passionate essays on the subject
SCREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: THE FILMS OF WES CRAVEN
Fans of Wes Craven can rejoice, as this hardcover overview of his life and films is about as good as can be expected, despite being over two decades out of date
HORROR PANEGYRIC
A well-written overview of the Savoy published Lord Horror novels, HORROR PANEGYRIC deserves credit simply for the fact that it’s currently the only existing book-lengthy study of these important works
On THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
There has never been another film quite like THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
Paul Schrader’s Films, Ranked
In celebration of the release of FIRST REFORMED, here is my ranking of Paul Schrader’s feature films up to 2018
TV Flashback: ONE TO GROW ON
ONE TO GROW ON, a 1980s kiddie PSA show, opens with a cartoon montage so distinctive that I can recall its every beat
1998: The Year in Bedlam
Movie-wise 1998 will go down in memory as a year of misunderstood classics
1999: The Year in Bedlam
Here I’ll be continuing my backward-looking year-end movie rankings—following the last entry, for the year 2000, we arrive at 1999